The recent nomination by the Tamil National Alliance of R. M. Imam, a displaced Muslim from Jaffna, as a Member of Parliament has brought to focus the extent of ethnic cleansing that has largely gone unnoticed in Sri Lanka. By October 1990, the LTTE had gained control over most of the Northern Province, consequent to the forced withdrawal of the Indian Peace Keeping Forces which was preceded by the arming of the LTTE by the Premadasa government. That month, the newly armed LTTE expelled over 80,000 Muslims from all parts of the Northern Province. These displaced Muslims have now remained as refugees for nearly eighteen years. All communities in Sri Lanka – Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim – have been the victims of organised ethnic cleansing, some done with political patronage, over the years. Coupled with this has been the attempt by chauvinistic forces, again with political patronage, to change the ethnic identity of areas in the North and East by organised settlement of these areas by other ethnic groups. But the expulsion of the Northern Muslims has rightly remained the single most heinous act of ethnic cleansing.

In that fateful month of October 1990, the LTTE cadres went round all Muslim areas in the North announcing over loudspeakers that the Muslims had just 48 hours to leave their homes and leave. In Jaffna, where the Muslims formed over 10% of the population, they were given a bare two hours. Pleas by local civil society leaders went unheeded, giving the impression that the orders came from the LTTEsupremo himself. Until then, the Northern Muslims had very good relations with their Tamil neighbours. Indeed, Muslim leaders like Kadhi M M Sultan served with great acceptance as a Mayor of Jaffna, scholars like Senator A M A Azeez and legal luminaries like Justice M M Abdul Cader and writers like Illangeeran Zubair have adorned their professions with distinction. Elsewhere in the North, Mannar with a Muslim population of just under 30% elected M S A Rahim as its Member of Parliament at a by-election in 1974 in what was virtually a straight contest with a Tamil opponent.

The evicted Northern Muslims have been housed in makeshift IDP camps in various parts of the Puttalam District where opportunities for livelihoods and education are very limited. These have also led over the years to some tension with the local community. Last year, a research team led by Dr Shahul Hasbullah from the University of Peradeniya, himself a Northern Muslim, made a study of life of these displaced northerners. The study revealed that the priorities for these refugees were: (a) to secure and stabilise their lives during the prolonged displacement, (b) to seek assistance to protect their assets and properties in their place of origin, and (c) the recognition of their right to return and the facilitation of return when the time is appropriate.

The study also revealed that the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement and the peace talks that followed did not make any significant break-through especially concerning the return of the displaced Muslims to their original places of residence. Most analysts would agree with this. After all, the Ceasefire Agreement was signed behind the back of everyone else and without any consultation. Had some consultation, even behind the scenes, been done with the President and other major stakeholders, much of the failures could have been avoided. The study revealed that the few Muslims who ventured to return to their original homes during the cease-fire period found that ‘movable and immovable properties and other social and cultural interests’ left behind in the north by the evicted Muslims had either been taken by others or just abandoned. However the ray of hope is that ‘the strong bond that Northern Muslims and the majority Northern Tamils had prior to eviction continues to provide strong hopes for the possibility of future return to their homes’ by the Northern Muslims.

Recently, two young Tamil activist writers, Dushiyanthini Kanagasabapathipillai and Sharika Thiranagama visited the Puttalam Camp and have written the stories of some of the displaced Muslim women. Tamil civil society leaders like Devanesan Nesiah and Rajan Hoole (of the UTHR-J) and journalists like David (DBS) Jeyaraj have also written about the injustice done to the Northern Muslims. Let us also hope that the nomination of R M Imam by the TNA (undoubtedly cleared by the LTTE) is a sign that the LTTE realises the ‘crime against humanity’ that it has committed. S M M Bazeer in a recent posting on the Muslim Guardian website hopes that Imam will prove to be an ‘Imam’ to the Northern Muslims. In an earlier posting on the same website, M H M Salman quotes Anton Balasingham as having stated in 2002 that the expulsion of the Muslims was an act of ‘political blunder’. Salman also quotes Prabhakran as having stated in a 1994 BBC interview: ‘Jaffna is their own land. Unfortunately, difficult circumstances have rendered these Muslim people refugees. We very much regret this has happened.’

In this somewhat hopeful scenario, Tamil/Muslim civil society will do well to consider appointing its own Commission of Inquiry to self-examine the events of October 1990, study the position of the evicted Northern Muslims and recommend ways and means by which this community can be assured of recognition, compensation and resources to return to their original places of residence when time is appropriate. Such a report will also be a valuable resource for the treatment of all other displaced persons, whether as a result of ethnic cleansing or the ongoing conflict. Commissions such as these would basically give assurance and hope to the victimised community that the rest of us are concerned and recognise their right to return to their original homes. It will provide for truth and reconciliation; it will not be a blaming game.

This column regrets the amount of space that is being taken in exchanges between this column and Prof Rajiva Wijesinha. His latest lengthy response in The Island of 17th July answers none of the questions raised in this column. Like Goldsmith’s Lissoy schoolmaster, he keeps arguing, but sadly to no avail. Wijesinha avoids the question whether or not the principal issue, the ‘particular’ to him, was the actual killing of the 17 ACF workers in Mutur and identifying the persons responsible for it. He avoids the question as to whether or not there was a cover-up of the killing of Joseph Pararajasingham. We know that Wijesinha, the liberal, has his heart in the right place but it is disappointing that he now finds it expedient to continue being an apologist for the violations of human rights by the state forces. He should search his conscience and see if his present role is consistent with his new position in the Ministry of Human Rights and his other position as the co-ordinator of the peace process.

George Santayana’s advice to pundits who thought they only knew the best way forward was: "Those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them." Wijesinha dismisses the comments of Martin McGuinness, the veteran of the Irish conflict, who stated that in conflicts like ours there can be no conclusive military victory; a solution can be found only at the negotiating table. No where else. Wijesinha wants to defend the Government’s exclusive military option and says ‘we’ can do better than Northern Ireland.